Carol Parris Krauss: Poem

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born from two western NC mountain folk and have kissed the clouds crossing Grandfather Mountain Bridge. As a Clemson graduate, like my father before me,…

James Rhine: Essay

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Having grown up in the Bible belt to one day feel it a little too strict around my waistline, I’ve spent the latter part of my waking…

Jerry Hogan: Poetry

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I’m from Fayetteville, in Northwest Arkansas. Geographically, we’re just barely in the South and are sometimes listed as being in the Southwest – that’s a joke. I…

Daun Daemon: Fiction

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I grew up in the North Carolina foothills with my mama’s beauty shop outside my bedroom window and a car mechanic’s garage across the street. Both had…

James Ryer: Essay

Southern Legitimacy Statement: The South is comprised of mesmerizing layers of contradiction: What people believe is true or not true. Who you choose to believe. And, what is actually true.…

Jonathan Odell: Memoir:

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Born and raised a white guy in Jim Crow Mississippi. In other words, I missed a hell of lot of what went on around me from my…

Roger Howell: Memoir:

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Being of Southern rootage, the past crawls all over me, pestering me when I’m trying to get to sleep. Recently, I read Absalom, Absalom! again. Broke down…

B. Lynn Zika: Poetry:

Southern Legitimacy Statement: As a child I took comfort in our town square statue. He faced the direction of the state college where my father taught English. To his right…

Andy Betz: Memoir:

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised in Missouri and now live (very, very) close to Atlanta. With the exception of college, I have spent my entire life in…

Byron Hoot: Poetry:

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Born and raised in West Virginia now living in The Wilds of Pennsylvania. Once born in Appalachia, you never live any place else in your heart. Returning…

B. Lynne Zika: Poetry:

Southern legitimacy statement: Chub Petersen’s mama didn’t teach him the necessity of summer underthings when he sat in shorts playing marbles on my front sidewalk. Consequently I received an early…

S. Preston Duncan: Poetry:

Southern Legitimacy Statement: I’ve spent my life in Virginia, where I’ve worked barbecue pits and the cattle farm that supplied them. I have no idea why the twangpop on the…

Marjorie Gowdy: Poetry:

Southern Legitimacy Statement Or, I’ll Carry Myself Back Reared on buttered biscuits and fresh corn yet eschewing pinto beans, I am of the South. My people, as we call them,…

Bradley Sides: Fiction: May 2022

Southern Legitimacy Statement: Those memories in the creek and at the picnic table are ones I want to live forever… Our Patches Back on one of the nights in what…

Neil Bearden: Fiction: May 2022

Southern Legitimacy Statement: My Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born in Baton Rouge, LA, in 1973, to a sixteen-year old mother. I shot guns and painted cheap apartments with a…

Lukas Tallent: Fiction: May 2022

Legitimacy Statement: I was born and raised in no where, southeast Tennessee, where more men went to fight for the union (including my great great great great whatever pappy) than…

Nwenna Kai: Essay: May 2022

Southern Legitimacy Statement: By way of Africa, my people come from rice fields, tobacco, moonshine, and North Carolina oppressive sweat and heat. One of my great great grandmothers I am…